The Sand Mandala
is a Tibetan Buddhist Tantric
ritual practice of creating a symbolic representation of the
Universe. Mandalas are related to Tantric doctrines, normally
kept secret, and can take many forms from simple diagrams and
more elaborate scroll paintings on cloth to complicated
patterns of coloured sand and large three-dimensional carved
structures. They embody aspects of the Absolute, and are
tools to meditation, initiation and visualization. But their
most profound symbolic value is that they embody the path to
the sacred.

As a rule a mandala is a
strongly symmetrical diagram, concentrated around a centre and
generally divided into four quadrants of equal size. When
constructing a sand mandala the surface is first cleaned and
then consecrated. Lengths of cord are dipped in wet chalk and
then used to mark out an intrinsic system of measurements.
These are then filled using coloured sand that is gently
teased out of long narrow metal pipes. After completion the
mandala is ceremonially dismantled and submerged in a body of
water, symbolizing the transitory nature of life.

The five monks who will construct the sand mandala come from
the Drepung Loseling Monastery in Mundgod, Karnataka.
The original Drepung Monastic University was set up early in
the 15th century around the Denbak area in Tibet. Soon the
growing number of disciples led to the founding of seven
different colleges amongst them the Loseling College which
gained fame as ‘The Monastic College of a Million Brilliant
Scholars’. Until today there have been seventy-nine successive
abbots of the Loseling College.

In 1959, among those who followed His Holiness into exile in
India, 1,500 monks were selected from the monastic
universities of the Geluk, Nyingma, Kagyu and Sakya traditions
as seeds of monasticism in exile. This was a unique but
difficult cultural experiment beset with financial and
emotional difficulties. The 230 odd Loseling monks were moved
after 10 years in West Bengal to their present site in Mundgod,
Karnataka. There, over the last 40 years with the hard work of
the monks, the administrators and support from his Holiness
The Dalai Lama as well as well as from around the world the
Drepung Loseling Monastery has constructed a prayer hall in
traditional Tibetan style which can accommodate 5000 monks and
supporting buildings for monks, guests and visitors. More
important one of the first works undertaken was the
preservation and printing of sacred texts for the use of the
monks and there exists now The Drepung Loseling Library
Society for the preservation and diffusion of the teachings of
the Buddha.